Global Studies Senior Lecturer Aiden Warren has won a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to examine what the United States' major investment in a modernised nuclear arsenal means for efforts to stop the spread of the deadly weapons across the globe.

Warren hopes that his research will develop pathways for keeping disarmament momentum ‘alive’ under conditions of weakening US disarmament leadership, and an increasingly challenging international environment.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Val Colic-Peisker on her new book, The Age of Post-Rationality.

This book, co-authored with Adrian Flitney, 'challenges the hegemonic view that economic calculation represents the ultimate rationality. The West legitimises its global dominance by the claim to be a rational, democratic, science-based and progressive civilisation. Yet, over the past decades, the dogma of economic rationality has become an ideological black hole whose gravitational pull allows no public debate or policy to escape. Political leaders of all creeds are held in its orbit and public language is saturated by it. This dogma has pervaded all spheres of life, ushering the age of post-rationality, especially in English speaking countries. The authors discuss several aspects of post-rational global capitalism still dominated by the Anglosphere: hyper-competition, hyper-consumption, inequality, volatile global financial markets, environmental degradation and the unforeseen effects of the internet-mediated communication revolution. The book concludes by discussing some utopian and dystopian future scenarios and asking whether the West can transcend its crisis of rationality.'

On 14 December, the formal ceremony for conferring degrees took place at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne. It was amazing and moving. The entertainment would rival a music festival, with the national anthem and the after party entertainment being provided by Jessica Mauboy – among many other things, Australia’s representative at Eurovision.

However, the real stars were, of course, our graduates. Below are some pictures from both the parade in the morning along Swanston St, and of the event at the stadium. Graduates with pink trimming are from the BA (International Studies) whereas those with yellow are from the Master of International Development.

(If you are a graduate who I took a photo or selfie with and you would like a copy of that picture, please email me (Julian), as I only now have your probably-now-too-old student email address).

On 12 December, we celebrated the graduation of many of our fabulous BA (International Studies) students (well, now former students). The occasion was incredibly heartwarming and a lovely prelude to the formal graduation event that followed the next day at the Docklands Stadium (see the adjacent blogpost for that).

On this occasion, we also handed out several awards to students who managed great achievements and who gave outstanding service to the community around the BA (IS) degree. Those receiving awards this year are:

OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARDS

For service through the International Studies Association

Sarah Pisarski

Eiza Marot

Gilda Good

Hannah Crabb

Annabel Turnbull

For service across every edition of our in-house magazine Here Be Dragons and acting as editors of the most recent edition

Natasha Karner

Emma Hutchinson

INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP AWARD

Emma Hutchinson

Natasha Karner

RESEARCH PROJECT AWARD

Maxwell Davie

FOR ACHIEVING A GPA OF 4.0

Maxwell Davie

Natassia Bell

HONOURS AWARDS

Tom Nairn Award

Ella Spence-King

Outstanding Thesis Award

Alice Bell

Isabella Fernandez

-----*****-----

Below are a few photos from the event. On the one hand I (Julian) apologise for not getting good and typical photos of people receiving awards (and a couple were too blurry - so sorry!), however, on the other hand, I think the those photos reflect the happiness and camaraderie in the room, and the warmth of the occasion. (Click each photo to see a larger version of it. It might look pixelly at first, but it clears up after a few moments).

Emma Hutchinson, Natasha Karner and Natassia Bell represented the larger team of editors from the Bachelor of Arts (International Studies), the BA (IS) (Honours), and Master of International Development degrees, to hand over copies of the first three volumes of the magazine, and to discuss the origins, modus operandi, and future of the magazine.

Natasha (pictured to Belinda's right) remarked that "Both Belinda and Paul were really nice and very interested in the inspiration behind the magazine. It was great to sit down and talk about how Here Be Dragons has become a creative outlet for students, and our hopes that it will keep our BAIS alumni connected into the future."

Natassia (pictured to Paul Gough's left) said that "It was an honour to meet these senior individuals and have them recognise our efforts in Here Be Dragons, as well as to take the time to ask us about our goals and aspirations beyond graduation. It really shows the great community that we have here at RMIT."

Whilst speaking to Paul, Emma (pictured to Belinda's left) noted that her experiences with being involved in the magazine have already been useful because "I have been able to provide evidence of experience using certain skills during job and internship interviews. By referring to my work in Here Be Dragons, I can point to something concrete that demonstrates not only my writing and editing skills, but also my ability to work within a team and also lead a team."

In November and December 2017 Tommaso will teach a series of lectures under the umbrella title “How do we research globalization? A discourse on the method” within the International research-based Master Programme in Global Studies at the Global and European Studies Institute (GESI), Faculty of Science and Philosophy of Universität Leipzig.

In 2015 Jessica Heron was involved in a social enterprise design project as part of International Professional Practice, taught by Dr Elizabeth Kath. Co-designer Michael Marinelli submitted their design to a summit happening in Hong Kong this month, and it was selected. Jessica will be attending the summit - without Michael sadly, who will be busy working in Spain - to discuss 'The Urban Refuge'.

See also: http://globalstudies.squarespace.com/blog/2015/11/30/big-idea-finalists

A new short documentary, Caring at a Distance: Three Families Staying Connected Across Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, has just been published and made publicly available. This film is collaboration between Julian CH Lee and the Indonesian film-makers Dennis Hasangapon and Mahatma Putra of Anatman Pictures.

Caring at a Distance examines how three families have responded to being dispersed across different countries as a result of diverse processes of globalization, and the ways in which they maintain their family bonds. The 22 minute film is viewable here: https://youtu.be/nIyPvu4fS4w

Volume 3 of the Global Studies magazine Here Be Dragons has just been published. This volume was edited by BA (International Studies) students Eiza Marot, Fletcher Adam and Alyssa Goodman, with contributions by students in the BA (IS), BA (IS) (Honours), Master of International Development and Global Studies PhD supervisees. The online version of Here Be Dragons is available here:

Congratulations to the three BA(IS) students who have recently completed a semester in Indonesia as New Colombo Plan scholarship recipients! Read more about what Natariga 'Kit' Panyawatcharakun, Natassia Bell and Aster Haile did here <link>

On their publisher's blog, Julian is interviewed by Ani Mattila about his new book with Marco Ferrarese. They discuss the politics and cultural impacts of authenticity in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.